Statistics

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Dylan Schuett, Dominic Murphy, and Nick Marino each scored twice as No.8 University of New England overcame an early two-goal deficit to surge past Western New England University, 10-2, in a Conference of New England (CNE) men's ice hockey contest Friday afternoon (Feb. 14) at Olympia Ice Center. It was consecutive victory number 10 for the Nor'easters.

To match the program's second-longest stretch of wins, UNE (17-5-1, 13-3-0 CNE) will have to knock off No.5 Curry College on Saturday (7 p.m.) at the Forum. For the moment, the Nor'easters are tied atop the league standings with the Colonels, who carry the nation's largest active winning streak (since losing to UNE on Dec. 6) into their Friday outing against No.15 and third-place Endicott College.

The 10-goal performance marks the eighth time that a UNE squad has reached double digits in a game, including now three times versus the Golden Bears. It was a season-high by three, and nearly equaled the combined total from the first two meetings against WNEU back in November (4-0, 7-0).

The Nor'easters found themselves in a 2-0 hole after just 3:25, but were back level by the end of the 1st frame on goals by Schuett and Ryan Kuzmich. For Schuett, it was his first score of the season, while Kuzmich entered the day ranked 3rd in the country for goals per game (0.82).

Murphy notched what proved to be the deciding tally (3-2), a mere 24 seconds into the 2nd, and then made it 5-2 later in the period, after Nathan Chickering padded the cushion.

Schuett began the onslaught in the 3rd (6-2), before Marino and fellow rookies Braden Cook and Cam Bergeman accounted for the offense the rest of the way. Bergeman's goal settled UNE at 1-for-2 on the power play, further elevating the team's Division III-leading 32.8 percent efficiency on the advantage.

Cook and Will Spitzer shared the Nor'easter team-high of three points, while Schuett, Murphy, Marino, Kuzmich, and Bergeman were joined by Drew Oliveri, Anthony Sciucco, and Tyler Healey with two assists each. Juraj Elias added one helper and now has a squad-best run of four straight matches with at least one point.

On the back end, Stefan Carney logged 13 stops to improve his individual goaltending ledger to 8-2-1.

Logan Palmer recorded 37 saves for the Golden Bears (5-16-2, 1-13-2), who received the early goals from Brayden Patricia and Matty Zdanowicz.